about the fund​

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The ECDC Global Business Services (GBS) Fund is established to enhance the investment attraction efforts of the province, particularly within the Global Business Services Sector. The primary  objective of the GBS fund is to provide investment funding support for financially viable investment  propositions that create youth employment opportunities in the Eastern Cape, through servicing offshore activities. The secondary objectives of the Fund are to:

 

• Create and support employment opportunities for youth in the sector (age 18-34 years).

• Position the Eastern Cape as a prime location for offshore services and increase the provincial contribution of export revenue through offshore services.

• Strengthen the GBS investment value proposition by creating a sustainable GBS business ecosystem.

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Eligibility Criteria

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Only investment proposals that meet the primary and secondary objectives of the GBS Fund will be considered. The applicant must meet the following eligibility criteria to be considered for funding:

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• Be a registered legal entity in South Africa in terms of the Companies Act, 1973 (as amended) or the Companies Act, 2008, the Close Corporations Act, 1984 (as amended) or the Co-operatives Act, 2005 (as amended)

• Be a taxpayer in good standing and submit a valid tax clearance certificate as verification

• Be B-BBEE compliant in terms of B-BBEE Code of Good Practice, 2013 and submit a valid B-BBEE certificate of compliance or affidavit. Furthermore level 4 and below is preferred

• Have secured at least a three (3) year fixed-term contract for offshore activities

• The investment project must be financially viable and a going concern

• Pay a minimum wage of five thousand rand (R5000) per month (South African Citizens)

• Be involved in starting a new operation or in expanding an existing operation, in order to perform Global Business Services (GBS) activities, (Expansion of GBS activities in the Eastern Cape Province may be operated from more than one physical location in the province)

• Application for funding consideration must be made prior to engaging / locating qualifying jobs in the province

 

Non-eligible Applicants

The following are non-eligible applicants for the Fund that will not qualify for funding:

 

• Displacing existing jobs within South Africa (Relocating an existing facility offering GBS) 

• Entitled to concurrent incentive benefits under the Jobs Fund

 

Eligible GBS Activities

These are qualifying activities that are performed by a registered South African entity on behalf of an entity or organisation based in an international geography (outside the borders of South Africa): 

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• Finance and Accounting Services (accounting services, accounting preparation and reconciliation, corporate claims processing, loan application processing, portfolio analysis and management, financial reporting, financial management, tax consulting and tax management, auditing)

• Human Resource Functions (compensation and payroll administration, recruitment and terminations, education services, training and development)

• Contact Centres (inbound customer support services, inbound help-desk support, inbound sales support, inbound technical support, outbound data cleaning and data capturing, outbound customer interview, web sales and marketing, advertising and creative processes, marketing research services)

• Back Office Processes (administration, data entry/management/preparation, scanning and archiving, document management, translation and transcription services, quality control management)

• IT and Technical Services (network management and maintenance, software development and maintenance, web site design and development, network maintenance, data conversion)

• Specialised Services (Knowledge process outsourcing, analytics outsourcing, engineering design outsourcing, infrastructure management services, transportation services management, travel and tourism booking and reservation services, legal outsourcing)

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​Submission of Applications

 

GBS Incentive Application Form with the stipulated supporting documents should be submitted to gbs@ecdc.co.za  

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Application forms can be downloaded from here.